


How did you love?

by frankenjoly



Series: This isn't the end [1]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Angst but not too much actually, Character Death Fix, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, From implied to real Psyren, Gen, There are characters only mentioned but I'm a disaster with(out) tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:20:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25051549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankenjoly/pseuds/frankenjoly
Summary: I wanted angst but couldn't commit to do it at fully BL3 canon way, if you know what I mean, so the end it's what it is and now it's related to Not just the siren. Anyway, here's Maya making A Big Choice.
Relationships: Ava & Maya (Borderlands)
Series: This isn't the end [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814425
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	How did you love?

She had made a mistake.

She had made the worst fucking mistake. And now she was going to pay with her life. A price Maya was more than willing to pay for Ava, yes, but still… Well, it wasn’t how she wanted things to go.

All the times she had told her to focus, to not let herself be caught off guard by an enemy, and now… that was exactly what she had done.

She should have kept Troy fucking phaselocked instead of grabbing him with not just an arm, but the left one. Her _exposed arm_ no less. Fucking rookie mistake. One Maya had started regretting since he grabbed her arm in return and his touch started to itch, then burn like it actually could cause elemental damage. And after a few seconds the pain had started to become unbearable, spreading from the contact zone through all her body.

To think that a brief conversation with Tannis back after Ava’s and her arrival at Sanctuary, back in the day, had ended with the conclusion that he may not have powers of his own, based on the tattoos color and apparent dependance on Tyreen… if it wasn’t for the pain, she may have laughed. Oh, the irony.

Maybe if she could get out of there, Maya could tell the scientist. Maybe. But, as the pain increased quickly, as every cell of her body seemed ready to fall apart melting, she wouldn’t count on it.

It was the end, and if Ava could make it out of the Vault alive, it would have been worth it, no matter the price.

Fucking Calypsos, anyway.

She wanted to scream, to curse, to tell them all the cult shit, the adoration and followers, was actually a big stupid scam they could never get out unless they did on time. Experience had taught her that lesson the hard way, by her upbringing in Athenas. People who adored you just saw a part of you, the bright side, a fake image destined to start fading with time, when you showed vulnerability, certain feelings… when the mystic powerful siren (or sirens, in their case), turned out to be like everyone else. When you didn’t fit the mold they had put you in.

‘ _Well… It's not what you believe, those prayers will make you bleed._ ’

But at the point the story was, Maya didn’t want to fool herself thinking telling them would change anything, and didn’t want to use her last energies on it either. She’d rather focus on thinking about who actually mattered.

She thought about Ava and all the things she wanted to tell her before it was too late. How she meant everything she said when she promised to take care or her, that she would be a Vault Hunter if she wanted to, that she was going to be a siren too even though there was no precise explanation for it. How, pissed as she was when the girl had tried to steal her book the day they had met, what Maya felt now was affection. How it all was the reason she had done what she had done right in the moment.

Also, yes, Ava should have listened before and leave instead of making things more difficult. But she didn’t blame her.

She thought about Lilith, her friend and commander, her fellow siren sister with or without powers, hoping she would carry on with the Raiders’ mission even when Maya was gone. Making the sacrifice more worthwhile.

She thought about her friends, her old Vault Hunter squad. Zer0, working at Atlas, who she couldn’t have even met with yet or even say a word via ECHO. Gaige, off with Deathtrap, wanting to bail her father out of jail. Probably would have done it by then, she was one of the smartest and most resourceful people Maya have met. About Axton and Salvador, who were most likely to have found trouble if trouble hadn’t found themselves before and ended up running away in fear of the two men. And last but not least, Krieg. Krieg and all the things she hadn’t told him before leaving to Athenas, plus what she had indeed said.

‘ _Don’t worry, big guy. I’ll be back, I promise._ ’

The promise now felt incredibly… not empty, because she had a very good reason for breaking it, because there was no other choice in order to try and keep Ava safe, because heaven knew breaking said promise was the exact opposite of what she wanted.

‘ _I’m sorry, I…_ ’ The pain interrupted her trail of thought as she screamed, and the siren started to note her conscience fading away in a matter of seconds that seemed like an eternity.

Who was the apology for, anyway? For Ava, for not being able to be around more, teach her more, protect her better? For her friends? For the promise that was about to be broken? For the goodbyes that were going to be unsaid?

Well… not all of them.

“Be… ready…” Maya managed to say, with an almost broken voice, and looking right into the girl’s eyes, hoping it would make up for a decent goodbye… and last words. Emphasis in _words_ , as the pain increased to a level thought as impossible to reach and she screamed in agony.

If there was any justice in that goddamned galaxy, in the borderlands, Ava would be able to walk out of the Vault on her feet, as safe as sound as one could be there. Justice, karma, what-the-fucking-ever was it at that point. She had already gone through a lot and deserved to have good times lasting, a nice life, her dreams coming true… and just a life as a kid, a teen, a woman. Maya herself hadn’t had a proper life, at least not entirely of her own, till twenty-seven. Her apprentice would have it better, and she was willing to die for it.

Not like she had any regrets or wasn’t leaving unfinished business behind, but what could she do about it?

The answer was: absolutely nothing. Nothing apart from feeling her conscience fade away, till everything was dark and numb.

Maybe it wasn’t all that bad, maybe there was an afterlife after all, maybe dead she would find all the answers about sirens she could barely grasp when alive. Maybe she would meet her loved ones with time. Maybe she would open her eyes back again in the actual paradise… if she deserved it, yadda yadda. Maybe she had earned eternal torture for not being exactly an angel. Maybe there was nothing, who knew?

One thing did indeed happen, and Maya opened her eyes after what could only be described as a long time, or at least that was what it seemed for her.

And it was… incredibly mundane, plus familiar. Familiar as in Sanctuary’s infirmary, something she wasn’t going to completely understand after a few time. But one thing was crystal clear.

She had somehow made it.

**Author's Note:**

> I said to myself I was gonna leave Not just the siren as it was, but now I've not by adding this, I may or may not been thinking about writing the date night.
> 
> Also, I'm gonna be a slut for song references forever in general, and apparetly for Shinedown songs references in particular, so...
> 
> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Qqh5VdUEY](url)


End file.
